The CNC lathe is the variant of the digital control lathe, which is a machine tool used for turning operations. As a reminder, the turning is a machining activity consisting of removing material by a relative rotational movement between a cylindrical workpiece and a cutting tool.
Therefore, the CNC lathe integrates the digital control of part or all of the operations performed on the machine.
This type of machine tool operates in accordance with a program responsible for managing the choice of the cutting tools and their movements, positions, and speed and for rotating the spindles (speed and position) of the movement of carriages, material loading or even the cooling liquid inlet.
The general functioning principle is the following: the tool holders are supported and indexed by the turret, which movement on two or more axes is allowed by the slideways while the workpiece to be machined is supported by the spindle. Nevertheless, some more or less important variations exist depending on their model, their versions, and the manufacturers.
The choice of a CNC lathe depends on the exact nature of the turning work needed. It is conditioned by a number of criteria, including the number of axes (two to five axes, even more), the number of spindles (single spindle lathes, dual spindle lathes, and multiple spindle lathes), the machining plan (vertical, horizontal, or universal), the number of turrets (single, double, or multiple) and the position of the bench, which may be inclined or not.
Opting for a particular CNC model also depends on the type of material to process, the dimensions of workpieces, the specific requirements in terms of performance, accuracy, speed and productivity.
The CNC lathes of major manufacturers are present on the second-hand market; models such as those designed by Biglia, Cmz, Daewoo, Gildemeister, Hardinge, Index, Kitamura, Mazak, Miyano, Muratec, Nakamura, Okuma, Schaublin, Traub, Spinner, Wirth & Gruffat, EMAG, Danobat, EMCO, Haas Automation, DMG Mori Seiki, Doosan, Toshiba, Lywentech, Pietro Carnaghi, Bost, Dalian Feida, and Hurko and are completely checked to guarantee optimal performance.
Second-hand machines might be checked to guarantee geometric characteristics not far from the original values (concentricity of spindles, inversion set, etc.)
The second-hand machine remains the solution to reduce investment costs and startup time.